Kim Joo-hyung, who is ranked second in the FedEx Cup points and third in the prize money rankings in the 2022-2023 season of the PGA Tour, has a drive shot distance of 294.1 yards. He is in the low-middle ranks at 141 out of 217 players in the slugging rankings. On the PGA Tour, where long hitters dominate, it can only be said that it is truly amazing that Kim Joo-hyung is achieving this level with a drive shot that is less than 300 yards.

The PGA Tour is entering the ‘300-yard average era’. Last season, the average drive shot distance of all players on the PGA Tour was 299.8 yards, 0.2 yards short of 300 yards. The number of players who hit more than 300 yards was 99, just 1 out of 100.

As of the 2022-2023 season, exactly 99 players are hitting 300 yards or more, just like last season. Tony Finau is ranked 99th with just 300.0 yards. In 100th place is Denny McCarthy with 299.8 yards. Kim Si-woo, who lifted the championship cup at the Sony Open, is looking at entering the 300-yard line at 299.4 yards (103rd place).

Among Korean players, 4 are hitting more than 300 yards. Ahn Byeong-hoon, who is throwing 313.4 yards, ranks highest among Korean players at 13th, Kim Seong-hyun and Lee Kyung-hoon are tied for 82nd with 302.2 yards, and Lim Seong-jae is ranked 87th with 301.7 yards.

Currently, Japan’s Semikawa Taiga, who hit 324.0 yards, is ranked first in the long drive rankings, and Mito Pereira of Chile, who hit 322.6 yards, is second. However, Semikawa only participated in 2 games, and Pereira also played in 3 games, so it is not showing proper distance. Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), who ranked second in the slugging ranking last season (321.3 yards), is completely out of the slugging ranking as he only played in one game this season. However, McIlroy threw a whopping 349.5 yards in the winning CJ Cup. McIlroy is aiming for the long hit king again in 4 years following 2019. 먹튀검증

Jon Rahm (Spain), who is ranked first in the FedEx Cup, prize money rankings, and average at bats, is ranked 11th in the long hit rankings with 313.6 yards.

The first player to record an average of 300 yards on the PGA Tour was John Daly (USA), the “legendary king of long strokes.” Daly averaged 302.0 yards in 1997 and became the main character of the first ‘300 Yard Club’. He dominated an era as a long hitter with a massive body and tremendous power as a weapon. He never missed the PGA slugging king except once in 12 years from 1991 to 2002, and he was the only player to hit 300 or more yards until 2002. After Daly, ‘300 yards’ became the standard for a long hitter, and to be called a long hitter, you had to shoot at least 300 yards to pass.

‘Golf Emperor’ Tiger Woods (USA) is also one of the main characters who opened the ‘300 Yard Era’ with Daly. In 1997, when Daly hit 300 yards for the first time, it was Woods who ranked second in the slugging rankings that year. Woods was ranked in the top 10 in slugging nine times for 10 years until 2006, except for one year. Because of Daly, who was like an ‘insurmountable wall’ during that decade, he never became the king of long hits, but he earned a reputation as a long hitter by coming in second only four times. Woods also first heard of the ‘300 yard club’ as he flew 301.9 yards in 2004. In 2005, he set his own record for longest run with 316.1 yards (2nd).

The change in the number of long hitters at 300 yards illustrates the history of long hitting.

The number of ‘300 Yard Club’ players, which was 27 in 2015, increased to 50 in 2018 and increased to 72 in the 2019-2020 season. It briefly decreased to 61 in 2021, but it increased to 99 again last season. And in 2023, since 1997, when the first 300-yard player came out, 100 players are on the verge of breaking through in 26 years.